Jaya-Vijaya Śāpa
Jaya and Vijaya are the two doorkeepers of Vaikuṇṭha, the supreme abode of Bhagavān Vishṇu. The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa tells how the four Kumāras came to Vaikuṇṭha, how Jaya and Vijaya stopped them at the seventh gate, and how the Kumāras gave them a śāpa (a curse): to fall from Vaikuṇṭha and be born as asuras.
Bhagavān Vishṇu himself came to the gate. He accepted the act of the brāhmaṇas, consoled Jaya and Vijaya, and said that they would take three births as his foremost enemies before returning to Vaikuṇṭha. Their first birth was as Hiraṇyāksha and Hiraṇyakaśipu, sons of Diti and Kaśyapa.
The Padma Mahā Purāṇa and the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa also speak of the doorkeepers of Vaikuṇṭha. Their accounts are given later in this telling.
The Sanatkumāras’ journey to Vaikuṇṭha
The four Kumāras are Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanātana and Sanatkumāra. They are ancient ṛshis of primordial wisdom, yet they move through creation in the form of five-year-old boys, always absorbed in Brahman. Once, moved by devotion, they went to Vaikuṇṭha, the supreme abode of Bhagavān Vishṇu.
The Bhāgavata describes Vaikuṇṭha as a realm of golden palaces with crystal walls. It has forests called naiḥśreyasa, where the naiḥśreyasa trees bloom at all times, and the whole air carries the fragrance of the presence of Bhagavān Vishṇu. Śrī Lakshmī herself moves through this abode, always in attendance upon Bhagavān Vishṇu.
The Kumāras passed freely through the first six gates. At each gate the divine gatekeepers knew their holiness and stood aside.
Source of this section: Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 3rd Skanda, Chapter 15.
The seventh gate
At the seventh gate Jaya and Vijaya stood on guard. They were adorned with golden ornaments and had the splendour of servants of Bhagavān Vishṇu. When the four Kumāras came, Jaya and Vijaya did not step aside.
The Kumāras had come to see Bhagavān Vishṇu and were refused entry. They were moved by the fierce power of a brāhmaṇa (brāhmaṇa-tejas). They gave Jaya and Vijaya a śāpa: “Since you have blocked our path to Bhagavān Vishṇu, you shall fall from Vaikuṇṭha and be born in the material world as creatures of darkness.”
Source of this section: Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 3rd Skanda, Chapter 15.
Bhagavān Vishṇu comes to the gate
The sound of the meeting reached Bhagavān Vishṇu. He came with Śrī Lakshmī and the assembly of the dwellers of Vaikuṇṭha. The hearts of the Kumāras overflowed when they saw him, and at once they composed a long stotra (hymn of praise). In it they said:
“Even a brāhmaṇa who does not know your glories is more to be honoured than a high deva who does not know them. For the brāhmaṇa carries the Vedas, and the Vedas are your own body. Therefore the act of your gatekeepers in blocking the brāhmaṇas was an act that we cannot overlook.”
Bhagavān Vishṇu fully accepted the position of the Kumāras. He said: “The śāpa of these ṛshis is also my will. Jaya and Vijaya shall go down, but it is I who am arranging this, not as punishment but for a purpose.”
Source of this section: Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 3rd Skanda, Chapters 15 and 16.
Jaya and Vijaya accept the śāpa
Jaya and Vijaya bowed at the feet of the Sanatkumāras with their golden crowns touching the ground. Tears streamed from their eyes. Bhagavān Vishṇu then spoke to them alone:
“You two have been my companions from time without beginning. Even this fall is within my plan. You shall be born three times in the mortal world as my most fierce enemies. In the very fierceness of that enmity your minds will be fixed on me at all times. Hatred fixed on me leads to the same goal as love fixed on me, for both keep the mind always absorbed in my form. After three such births you shall return here.”
Jaya and Vijaya were consoled by this promise of Bhagavān Vishṇu. They went down from Vaikuṇṭha as forms blazing like comets.
Source of this section: Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 3rd Skanda, Chapter 16.
Entry into Diti’s womb
Brahmā saw Jaya and Vijaya go down. He spoke to the devas, who were alarmed at the fiery sign in the sky. He told them not to fear, because this was the own arrangement of Bhagavān Vishṇu.
Meanwhile the two blazing beings entered the womb of Diti, the wife of Kaśyapa Prajāpati, at the sandhyā hour, which is not a good time. Their birth was announced by terrible signs in the sky and on the earth.
Source of this section: Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 3rd Skanda, Chapter 16.
The three births
The Bhāgavata names the three births of Jaya and Vijaya as asuras:
- Hiraṇyāksha and Hiraṇyakaśipu, sons of Diti and Kaśyapa. They were slain by the Varāha avatāra and the Narasiṃha avatāra.
- Rāvaṇa and Kumbhakarṇa, sons of Viśravā (Viśravas, by Keśinī). They were slain by the Rāma avatāra.
- Śiśupāla and Dantavaktra, born in kshatriya clans and cousins of Yudhishṭhira. They were slain by the cakra of Kṛshṇa.
After these three births Jaya and Vijaya returned to Vaikuṇṭha.
Source of this section: Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 3rd Skanda, Chapter 16.
The Seventh Skanda account: Nārada to Yudhishṭhira
The first chapter of the 7th Skanda gives the Jaya-Vijaya episode again. Here Nārada Maharshi tells it to Yudhishṭhira, as the answer to how Śiśupāla reached moksha (liberation).
Nārada first gives the wider teaching. A person may come to Bhagavān Vishṇu through desire (kāma), as the gopīs did; through fear (bhaya), as Kaṃsa did; through hatred (dvesha), as Śiśupāla and Dantavaktra did; through kinship (bāndhavatva), as the Yādavas did; through friendship (maitrī), as the Pāṇḍavas did; or through devotion (bhakti), as Nārada and the maharshis did. What decides the result is how fully the mind is absorbed in Bhagavān Vishṇu. Vena had none of these ways towards Bhagavān Vishṇu, and he fell to naraka (hell).
In this account the Sanakādis are named as Sanandana and others, sons of Brahmā. Jaya and Vijaya blocked them at the gate. The śāpa was: “You who have no place for rajas and tamas here at the feet of Śrī Hari, fall at once and be born as asuras full of pāpa (sin).” The Sanakādis added: “After three births the śāpa will end and you will regain Vaikuṇṭhaloka.”
The three births are then named: (1) Hiraṇyāksha and Hiraṇyakaśipu, sons of Diti; (2) Rāvaṇa and Kumbhakarṇa, sons of Viśravas; (3) Śiśupāla and Dantavaktra, born in kshatriya clans and cousins of Yudhishṭhira. For the valour of Rāma in the second birth, Nārada sends Yudhishṭhira to Mārkaṇḍeya Maharshi.
Nārada then says how they were freed. Jaya and Vijaya fixed their minds (antaḥkaraṇa) on Śrī Hari through intense enmity (vaira) and thought of him alone, until they became absorbed in him (tanmaya). By the fruit of that meditation (dhyāna) their pāpa was destroyed by the cakra of Kṛshṇa, they were freed from the śāpa, and they went back to the presence of Śrī Hari.
Source of this section: Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapter 1.
The Padma Purāṇa accounts
The Uttara Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa gives two accounts of the doorkeepers of Vaikuṇṭha.
Puṇyaśīla and Suśīla (Chapters 108 and 109). In this account the doorkeepers of Vaikuṇṭha are not Jaya and Vijaya. They are Puṇyaśīla and Suśīla, two beings raised up from earthly life. Puṇyaśīla was earlier the poor brāhmaṇa devotee Vishṇudāsa, who was taken straight into Vaikuṇṭha when he saw Bhagavān Vishṇu at the yajña (fire ritual) of King Cōḷa. Suśīla was earlier King Cōḷa of Kāntipura, who entered the sacrificial fire when he saw Vishṇudāsa taken into Vaikuṇṭha. Cōḷa is the king from whom the Chola country takes its name. Bhagavān Vishṇu made both of them doorkeepers. In this account there is no śāpa and no fall.
Jaya and Vijaya, sons of Kardama and Devahūti (Chapter 110). A second account in the Padma Purāṇa names the doorkeepers as Jaya and Vijaya, but gives them a different origin. They are sons of the ṛshi Kardama and Devahūti. The two quarrelled over the dakshiṇā (priest’s gift) given by Marutta, a king. For this quarrel they gave each other a śāpa, to become an elephant and a crocodile. They were born on the bank of the Gaṇḍakī river. At last Bhagavān Vishṇu freed them with his cakra at Harikshetra in the month of Kārtika, and after that they became the doorkeepers of Vaikuṇṭha.
Source of this section: Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 108 to 110.
The Skanda Purāṇa account
The Skanda Mahā Purāṇa tells of the origin of Jaya and Vijaya in the Kārtika Māsa Māhātmya of the Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Chapter 28. In this account the two have no connection with the Sanatkumāras.
Jaya and Vijaya are the sons of Devahūti, daughter of Tṛṇabindu, and of Kardama. They were conceived through the spiritual vision of Kardama alone. Kapila, the Sāṅkhya ṛshi, was born to them afterwards. Both Jaya and Vijaya were devoted to Bhagavān Vishṇu from birth. Their minds were absorbed in him. They did japa of the eight-syllable mantra, oṃ nārāyaṇāya namaḥ, every day, and Bhagavān Vishṇu appeared before them every day at their worship.
Once King Marutta asked both brothers to officiate at his yajña. Jaya served as the presiding Brahmā priest and Vijaya as the officiating Yājaka. When the yajña ended well, Marutta gave them much wealth. On the way back to their āśrama the brothers quarrelled over how to divide the money. Jaya said it should be shared equally. Vijaya said the money belonged to whoever had earned it.
In anger Jaya gave Vijaya a śāpa: “Since you have taken the money but refuse to share it, be a crocodile!” Vijaya answered with a śāpa: “Since you give me a śāpa out of pride, be an elephant!” Then both went to Bhagavān Vishṇu at their daily worship, told him what had happened, and begged him to take back the śāpa. Bhagavān Vishṇu replied: “The words of my devotees must never be false. Even I cannot change them. Bear the result, then return to my abode.”
They were born as a crocodile and an elephant on the banks of the Gaṇḍakī river. They kept the memory of their earlier births and kept their vow to Bhagavān Vishṇu even in those forms.
Once, in the month of Kārtika, the elephant (Jaya) went to the Gaṇḍakī to bathe. The crocodile (Vijaya) remembered the cause of the śāpa and seized the elephant’s leg. Held fast, the elephant remembered Śrīpati (Bhagavān Vishṇu). Bhagavān Vishṇu appeared at once with the conch, the discus and the iron club. He hurled his discus and freed both of them. He gave them sārūpya (a form like his own) and took them to Vaikuṇṭha as his gatekeepers. The place where this happened became known as Harikshetra. The pebbles at that spot were marked with circular lines from the touch of the discus. The text says: “These two are well known in the world as Jaya and Vijaya, the constant favourites of Vishṇu, who became his gatekeepers.”
In the same Purāṇa, in Chapters 26 and 27, Puṇyaśīla and Suśīla are named as the gatekeepers who were born as the earthly Vishṇudāsa and King Cōḷa.
Source of this section: Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Kārtika Māsa Māhātmya, Chapter 28.
Sources
- Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 3rd Skanda, Chapters 15 and 16
- Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapter 1
- Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapters 108 to 110
- Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Kārtika Māsa Māhātmya, Chapter 28 (and Chapters 26 and 27 of the same text)